Analysis Of The Poem 'Legal Alien' By Pat Mora

The background of both narrators of “Mericans” and “In response to Executive Order 9066” comes from a Japanese or a Mexican-decent who are realizing cultural differences from their American life. However, the mistreating of a girl by her best friend compared to a girl who finds significant change between her two worlds that is tested by every cultures costumes of being victims of racial discrimination. The short story “Mericans” and the poem “In response to Executive Order 9066” can be a universal conflict between diverse heritage and cultural backgrounds that are determined by how America sees society.

Cultural identity can be difficult for people to determine because it is often invisible until you are introduced to a culture different from your own. It also has numerous meanings to different people around the world. Your cultural identity does not necessarily mean your heritage or where your family comes from, it can mean what you believe in, what your values are or how you treat people. Therefore, it can even mean how you view the world. Just like many other young people, I have struggled with identifying my own cultural identity.

“Legal Alien” by Pat Mora is a poem that describes the life of a Mexican American girl, she was born in America but her parents are Mexican. In the poem Mora mentioned that she is “Bi-lingual, Bi-cultural, able to slip from How is life to Me estan volviendo loca” (Mora 370). She is caught between two cultures. She feels that she does not belong to any society, people from America see her in different ways “viewed by Anglos as perhaps exotic, perhaps inferior, definitely different” (Mora 370), but also Mexicans have a different opinion “ viewed by Mexicans as alien, (their eyes says “you may speak Spanish but you are not like me”)” (Mora 370). In this poem exists the cultural border, she does not fit either in America or Mexico “An American to Mexicans a Mexican to America” (Mora 370). She is confused about her culture, and has a cultural border problem.

In Pat Mora’s two poems, “Legal Alien” and “Immigrants”, she is expressing the crisis of identity from which Mexican Americans suffer. On one hand, Americans view her (and Mexican Americans in general) as “perhaps exotic, / perhaps inferior, and definitely different” (9-10) while on the other Mexicans view Mexican-Americans as “alien” (11). Caught in between two cultures, and not being fully accepted by both, is the source of tensions in the author’s poetry. Both cultures with which they identify ultimately reject the persons in the poems which causes distress and conflict. The tension seen in the writer’s work

Being a Mexican American seems to be the best of both worlds, as is described in Pat Mora’s poem, “Legal Alien” opening lines. However, the narrator of the poem also makes clear how having a mixed cultural identity can also be seen as a two headed spear. Through the use of diction, irony, and imagery, Mora is able to exhibit the paradoxical way of living of a Mexican American individual, having to constantly battle against stereotypes attached to the ethnicity with which they identify with in order to try and fit in without being so harshly criticized.

In Pat Mora’s poem “Legal Alien”, she talks about her interactions with Mexicans and Americans in how they view her differently. “American to Mexicans a Mexican to Americans”(Mora 40). Pat was living in America for a while and when she went back to Mexico they thought of her as an American.

The poem “Immigrants” by Pat Mora, is about a family looking for a bright future for their kids. The children who are born in America, and raised really americanized, but the don't look like white Americans.. The peom show the clear need of an immigrating family looking for acceptance in their new country. The parents make forth efforts to surround their child with materialistic and cultural American traditions. Lastly, after attempts to transform their children from their uniqueness they're still unsure whether America will accept them into society. The cost of achieving acceptance in society is not worth the eradication of your natural and cultural personality.

Culture is what you identified, not what you are label as. Culture is a group of people who share similar values and norms, religion, language and similar experiences. An individual can identify and belong in multiple culture group. Sometimes, we feel the need to belong to a group of people to assure our existence and importance. As result of rejection, we may anxiety and shame of ourselves. In our need of belonging, we associate with group of people who share similar characteristics and knowledge as us.

What do you think of when someone asks you what culture is? Some may say the differences of a nation, social class, color, race and religion. This is Google's version of culture: “the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively.” I am a boy of many secrets or personalities and I have a different cultural identity from everyone else, there is no such thing as two individuals having the same cultural identities. Every trait that you have makes up your cultural identity. Our parents may have forced us to develop certain traits, for example my teacher says that I am hardworking due to me always wanting more and more work, but sometimes we develop traits ourselves, sometimes good or bad and those traits make us, us. I have three main aspects of my cultural identity and those three aspects are

Most people define someone’s culture by what they see on the outside, however what’s on the outside doesn’t always define who you are. When you hear the word culture you might think of someone’s ethnicity as a main factor. While most ethnic groups might have similar traditions among their people, individually, the people are very different. My cultural identity is like an iceberg, you may see a little bit, but there is still a lot to be discovered.

Cultural identity,is how you see and express yourself. I think people find it strange when faced with a culture different from their own.A person's culture can affect the way they view the world because it affects their behavior and beliefs.

We are all defined, and heavily influenced by, the culture in which we have grown and adopted. Culture is defined as “the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group”, according to The Oxford Dictionary, and can be separated into two specific classifications known as normative and subjective culture. Normative culture is “the connecting beliefs, values, tradition, economy, political and social institutions, artistic expressions and collective history of various interacting groups of people”. Subjective culture, however, represents “a society 's "characteristic way of perceiving its social environment"”. My personal culture is emphasized by five categories of subjective culture, including nationality, regional identity, education, social/economic class, and age.

It can be very difficult to define culture and identity, according to (French, 2010) culture is often conceptualized as being closely linked with attitudes and values, which are first, learned and subsequently manifested by members of a group. Culture has been described as features that are shared and bind people together into a community. Moreover, identity is how we as individuals view ourselves as a unique from others. Bhurga found that racial, cultural and ethnic identities form part of ones identity, and identity will change with development at a personal as well as at a social level along with migration and acculturation. An individual 's cultural identity may be lost during the assimilation process as he or she moves within the host society.

Cultural Identity varies from person to person. Everyone has something unique about themselves that separates them from every other human being on earth. For some people it’s their ethnic background that divides them from the group, others could be clothing or their religion. I have several aspects that define my culture and demonstrates what makes me, me. My most dominant cultural aspects are travel, physical characteristics, education/career, and music.

Culture is what identifies a person and his/her beliefs, traditions and behaviors. Each country has different beliefs, while in one country society might mandate two people to get marriage before they can move in together, in another that might be not important at all, and that does not mean one country is better than the other, that is just part of their culture. Also Culture is what makes a person have an identity where ever that person goes. For instance; in the United States there are different types of cultures because there are different people coming from different countries. When a person goes to a different country that person may identified his/herself with that country he/she is in if there is more people